Star Ocean: Awakening
by Corran1985
Summary: Though the Star Ocean team defeated Indalacio, Dr. Lantis had a backup plan. He's back, with a better body and the help of his daughter Filia - no limiter on this time! This is a collaboration with my friend Edwin, who doesn't have an account here (yet?).
1. Prologue

**Star Ocean: The Awakening**

_Prologue------------------------------------------------------------_

"Now,... Filia. Relax and enjoy... while I crush these fools between my fingers, and we shall enjoy their dying screams as a prelude to the destruction." With a wave of his hand, azure blades of energy were emitted from Indalecio's body. Claude and Dias, the two point fighters, rushed Indalecio and leapt over the waves, slashing downwards. Indalecio lifted his arms into an X formation, locking the blades together.

"This is a triumph!" The two swordsmen were flung into the air by concentrated Heraldic energy.

Celine and Leon started to chant in unison, while Ashton and Chisato rushed to defend the downed fighters. Rena screamed "Claude!" and hurried to his side.

Indalecio, momentarily pinned by the crossfire of Opera's kaleidoscope rifle and Ernest's pistol, began an incantation, "Flames from the heavens, descend and--"

Suddenly a great Heraldic emblem rose above Celine. "Explode!"

Flames engulfed Indalecio and a bright blast caused everyone to shield their eyes. The Wise Man was flung back towards the Crest of Annihilation. In his momentary weakness, Ernest pulled out a shock grenade and threw it at Indalecio.

After the explosion, a recuperated Claude struggled up and charged Indalecio. Claude vaulted and pointed his sword toward Indalecio and defiantly cried "Sword Bomber!" Indalecio glanced upwards and quickly rolled to the left, narrowly avoiding the attack. Flames licked around him as he continued to roll, but he bumped against something.

"Lucky!" A giant hammer popped out behind the girl whose feet he had just encountered. Precis's weapon found its mark, smashing into Indalecio's midsection. Enraged, he focused his mental power and shoved Precis and the hammer away from him.

As he stood back up, he heard a childish voice say "Demon's Gate". A door to another dimension arose behind him and was thrown open. Before the demon could emerge, Indalecio cast Anti. The door shattered into shards of Heraldic energy and disappeared.

"Are you telling me these humans will deny the downfall?" Indalecio scorned, his hand lowered. Strong winds pummeled Claude and the others, threatening to send them off the platform. Rena and those who were gifted in the Heraldic arts gasped at the strength of the Heraldic power rushing into the leader of the Ten Wise Men. "Your fate will never change!"

The twelve staggered away from Indalecio as a beam of light descended onto Indalecio. A celestial body slowly emerged from the clouds and alighted upon him. The woman with ocean blue hair became one with the last Wise Man. Her face was vaguely recognizable to Claude and Rena, but they were too busy to remember where they saw her...

"Said one thing right...," Claude muttered as he aimed the aquamarine blade of the Eternal Sphere at Indalecio, "we'll decide our own fate!"

Claude advanced with his blade over his head. "Dragon Howl!" He slashed in a downward arc, releasing an azure dragon that screeched in defiance and streaked towards Indalecio in a blue blaze, but he made no effort to dodge the incoming inferno.

Instead the Wise Man regarded the winged serpent with a cool gaze before it impacted; the dragon burst into a wave of sapphire plasma. Dust clouded the Crest of Annihilation and the scorched ground where Indalecio stood.

"Now!" Opera shouted, aiming her rifle and firing an armor-piercing rocket while Ernest covered her with his pistol. The missile and energy bullets crashed into the dust screen in a roar, exploding upward in a mushroom of shrapnel and smoke. As if on cue, Leon started another chant

Above the Fellpool scientist, a crimson emblem materialized. "End all things, ruler of the underworld! Destroy all life, advocate of the heavens!" Leon raised his hands, and an orb of Heraldic energy lifted towards the crest, and both shattered as he shouted "Extinction!"

Sparks that were wreathed around Leon's wrists shot into the sky. Leon's spell became evident; a glaring sphere of light came into existence over the battlefield and erupted. Born from the Fellpool's focus, a tidal wave of emerald destruction advanced onto the shield of smoke and exploded, leaving a trail of steel in its path.

Dias wondered whether Indalecio had been affected by any of the attacks. After their encounters with the previous Wise Men and their resilience to attacks, no one was leaving things to chance. From the depths of the cloud of dust, a shadow emerged. Dias raised his sword towards the apparition.

"How pathetic," the shadow intoned. Everyone readied for another assault, but before they could react, a giant Earth crest appeared on the ground between them and their nemesis. "Now, die. Earthquake!"

A golem arose from the crest, and with its huge fists pounded the ground. The entire fortress of Fienal shook with the reverberating shock waves. All twelve of the warriors tried to quickly retreat away from the golem to a safer area, but the stairs leading to the final chamber of Fienal fell away just as they came to them.

Indalecio stood behind the golem, laughing maniacally. As the stone creature vanished back into the emblem of Heraldic power, the tower swayed to the right and barely remained standing.

With renewed vigor, the entire group rushed Indalecio, beating him back towards the Crest of Annihilation. Celine cast thunderbolt, and as the powerful bolt struck Indalecio, Chisato jumped onto his back and jabbed her stun gun into his neck.

Indalecio howled and fell onto his knees. As Dias stepped in front of Indalecio with his sword raised high above his head; the others backed away from the area.

"Hawk Scream Blast!" Dias's sword was engulfed in fire, and the shape of a Hawk emerged from the inferno. The bird flew towards Indalecio and cloaked him in the blaze. Claude walked to Indalecio and lifted his sword. "This is for my father!" With that, Claude plunged the blade through Indalecio's heart.

Indalecio hacked and blood spurted out of his mouth. "Are you telling me these humans will destroy me? Then what is the significance of my existence?" Indalacio kneeled below the Crest of Annihilation, gasping for breath.

The entire party took a collective deep breath: the journey was over. But then the tower began to shake anew. Claude, Rena, and the rest could not ascertain the reason for the movement.

Ashton began desperately looking for an escape. "This tower will topple if we don't get out soon!" As if on cue, a Synard swooped into the spire from behind the Crest. On board were none other than Mayor Narl and Mirage.

Mirage quickly ran to the others. "Quickly, Rena! Put the Crest of Enchantment onto the Crest of Annihilation!" Rena did as told, and with a flash the two Crests became as one.

Indalacio struggled to speak one last time. "What fools." With that, he slumped over and spoke no more.

Unbeknownst to everyone there, Indalacio's last remaining energy began to accumulate in his memory sectors. An ancient algorithm awakened and began giving commands:

WARNING: SYSTEM OVERLOAD. MEMORY FILES ARE IN DANGER OF DESTRUCTION. TRANSFERING FILES TO BACKUP LOCATION.

This being done, the being known as Indalacio ceased to exist, though the adventurers were not aware of his final directive. They were phase-shifted out of Nede and were transported to Expel after it was brought back to this space-time continuum. The quest was finally over...or was it?


	2. Chapter1

_Chapter 1------------------------------------------------------------_

Long ago, Dr. Lantis, a prominent figure in biotechnology, conceived an idea to bring the Frontier Planets in line with Nede, the uncontested leader of the Universe Alliance. This society was a conglomeration of all planets rated at a Class-7 intelligence level or above. Around this time, Earth was little more than a molten rock; a primordial soup looked over by scoutships from Nede more than one billion years before the first primitive humans made rock hammers. The Frontier Planets were a band of rebel planets located near the center of the Universe, an area choked with many galaxies that hosted some type of lifeform. Due to their proximity, they wanted to break away from the Universe Alliance and govern themselves. They called themselves the Core Confederation. But Nede wanted dominion over every planet in the known Universe.

So, like many governments wanting to quell resistance, Nede turned to its military. A point group of Heraldic Sorcerers was sent to the rebel faction. But Nede had been using Heraldic weapons for millennia, and the Frontier Planets knew what was coming. They shrugged off the attack easily. Nede found that it needed a new weapon, something the insurgents would be unprepared for. They chose Dr. Lantis' idea for ten bioweapons that possessed Heraldic powers like nothing ever seen before.

Dr. Lantis built the ten weapons, dubbing them the Ten Wise Men. Human in shape, cybernetic in material, they were faster, smarter, and more powerful than a thousand normal men were. While undergoing final tests, a tragedy befell Dr. Lantis' daughter, Filia. She was killed in a rebel attack on a coastal city on Nede, but this occurrence was quickly covered up by military brass. The loss of his only daughter would hinder Dr. Lantis in his research, they said.

But Lantis knew how the military worked, and had an information network outside of his facility. He discovered what happened and also about the cover-up. The grief, the fabrications, and the stress of making weapons designed to kill thousands of people was too much-Lantis snapped.

Locking himself in his lab, he began feverishly working on several things. First he reprogrammed the Ten Wise Men. Lantis changed their directive from 'Bring the Frontier Planets in line' to 'Destroy the Universe'. Then he began working on a new piece of technology. This device would reach into the theorized "Other Plane" of existence, the place where souls reside. The invention would bring a soul under the power of its wielder, granting the power of the Other Side to the user. Equipping Indalacio with the prototype machine, he started work on his final project.

Lantis knew he would not survive to see the Universe destroyed. He was one of the few who had learned of the Crest of Annihilation. The Crest of Annihilation was the ultimate Crest, one in which would destroy every living thing in the Universe upon its completion. But the Crest would take a great deal of time to complete. No man would be able to invoke it in his lifetime. Not only would the Wise Man Indalacio be able to invoke it in a fraction of the time, he was powerful enough to protect it during its creation.

The only way to stop the Crest of Annihilation was to combine it with the Crest of Enchantment, which would redirect the massive energy to another, smaller area. Due to this weakness and the slim possibility of defeat, Lantis built another Body that combined all of the traits of the Wise Men into one entity. This he named Gabriel. No one knew of this ultimate weapon; it was a contingency plan that would probably go unused. Dr. Lantis hid it into the one place that no one would be able to search-the Eternity Space.

Lantis made a small change in the Crest of Annihilation. The Crest possessed enough power to destroy the Universe three times over, so he diverted a third of the power to something else. If the Crest was combined with the Crest of Enchantment, a third of the power would go into the Eternity Space, plucking Gabriel from his resting-place and delivering him into the Universe.

Having completed his appointed tasks, Lantis did his final deed. Before killing himself, he transferred his entire intelligence into the cyborg brain of Indalacio. Dr. Lantis became Indalacio so that he would live to see the destruction of the Universe and would be able to use his daughter Filia's power to help carry out his mission.


	3. Chapter2

_Chapter 2-----------------------------------------------------------_

Dias was alone in the Shingo Forest; ambient light filtered from the treetops and splashed the ground were he stood. After placing a small bouquet of wild flowers picked from the entrance to Shingo Forest on the ground, Dias solemnly spoke to the graves of his parents and his sister, Cecil. It had been three months since the return from Energy Nede. Dias had returned to his native village of Arlia, very much alone. His family had been dead for nine years, and Rena had departed for Earth about a month before. He had continued his mercenary way of life; in fact, he was scheduled to depart to the continent of El in a week to help wipe out any remaining demons from the Sorcery Globe incident. Until then, Dias was content to relate his tales to the gravesites of his family.

He continued to reflect silently on his recent journey where he and his compatriots faced off with the Ten Wise Men, especially on the final battle with Indalacio. Dias still could not fathom why the Wise Men sought to annihilate the Universe. What purpose did it serve? Dias frowned at the thought. He would probably never know. He shook off his reverie and decided not to dwell on it.

Later, at his home, Dias began to pack for his upcoming excursion to El. He carefully chose pairs of sturdy mithril greaves and gauntlets, an orichalcum shield, and his sword, Ouma. Along with his flowing cape, black trousers, and greenish shirt, the armor was his only garments. In a small, well-used tin, he placed several blueberries and blackberries, along with various other healing herbs.

Thus packed, Dias left Arlia and soon came to Salva. His friend Ashton Anchors had taken up residence in the mining town, occasionally venturing into the Salva Drift for treasure or clues as to Ururun and Gyoro's origin.

"Are you ready to go?"

Ashton, in his typically flamboyant outfit and twin swords, stepped from the small house near the entrance to the Drift. "Of course, Dias. I packed all of my good luck charms!" The two dragons sighed dejectedly from behind Ashton.

"You would."

The pair left Salva and ventured across the continent of Cross. They stopped to rest at Cross Castle, where they visited Celine and her husband Chris, the Prince of Cross. The two had been happily married a month after the Sorcery Globes destruction. They made another stop at Mars, where they stayed with the Elder for a night. On their third day of travel, they finally reached Herlie.

After the destruction of Herlie by a gigantic tsunami, many of the residents fled to Mars or Cross. When monsters finally stopped being a problem, Herlie was rebuilt to again offer passage to El. Many of El's inhabitants were killed in the war, so an effort was being made to repair Eluria for people to live there again. The last vestiges of the monster army was protecting the Tower at the impact point of the Sorcery Globe, prompting Dias and Ashton's trip.

After touring the rebuilt city and seeing the young boy **Cecil(?)** again, the adventurers boarded a cargo ship headed for El. They soon docked at the port town of Hyda, which was a day-long walk from Eluria. Staying at a local hotel, they awoke early the next morning and walked to Eluria to find Expel's finest knights battling the last of the army of fiends. Dias and Ashton found the leader of the Expellian forces, General Crosell. Crosell was stationed in a ramshackle tent that had slowly advanced as the army was defeated.

"Where would you like to place us, General?" intoned Dias.

"Hmm...our right flank could use strengthening. Please go there, and when all of those monsters have been vanquished, report back here."

The two warriors left and started to trudge to the right part of the battlefield, examining the best place to enter the fight. As they were about to enter the fray, cries of "Stand down!" and "What the hell?" echoed across the battlefield. Most of the Expellian army stopped fighting and looked into the sky, and the monsters started to whimper and retreat. Dias unsheathed his sword; he knew trouble was coming.

From the sky, on the opposite side from the falling sun, a flickering light was hurtling towards the battleground. It was getting closer by the second, and the object started to flicker as it soared through the stratosphere, losing pieces of itself from friction. There was soon a sphere the size of a Cross Quarter, growing quickly.

Chaos erupted across the plain. "The Sorcery Globe is returning!" General Crosell stepped out of his command center, and upon seeing the racing ball yelled "Retreat!" The monsters also knew something was happing. They quickly ran or flew back to the Tower where Eluria once stood. Soon not a single fiend was left out in the open.

Ashton was hopping around in fear. "Dias! We gotta get outta here! That things coming down here!"

Dias nodded and dashed off behind the retreating army with Ashton in tow. Glancing up, he saw chunks of molten rock peeling away from the object, revealing a dazzling white, translucent capsule. The dark silhouette of something inside could be seen. It was obvious the object was not going to impact near the army anymore. Most of the soldiers stopped and looked around.

Tall and foreboding, the Tower stretched into infinity in the dying sunlight. Not a single enemy could be seen in or around the Tower. The capsule suddenly dipped lower, as if controlled. Streaking downwards with a fiery tail, the object crashed through a fifth-story window of the tower. Watching the windows, a red streak continued moving inside the tower. It soon reached the bottom with a dull thud and sudden quiet befell the land.

"Is that all?" Dias muttered

Blinding white light exploded from the base of the tower. Glaringly brighter than the sun, all of the knights shielded there eyes. Chunks of debris from the tower, and also gobbets of monster flesh, rained down upon the army. When the light finally receded, they looked up to see not a single remnant of the tower, only a shallow crater with the white capsule sitting serenely in the center, pulsating.

Everyone was too stunned to move. Finally Crosell broke free of his reverie. "Let's go check this out."

The troops marshaled and started moving towards the remains of the spire. Dias and Ashton fell into the front ranks along with Crosell. The capsule had not moved when they arrived, filing around the circumference of the crater. Soft whirring could be heard in the still evening air, reminding Ashton of the wonderful machinery he had witnessed in Energy Nede.

With a soft hissing of air, a thin crack formed on the capsule body, facing perpendicular to Dias and Ashton. The onlookers gasped and took a collective step back. The crack widened and slowly opened—a doorway. The doorway swung open, and then slowly melted back into the pod's side. Inside, a tall man with a mane of rakish blonde hair lied, swathed in a maroon robe with gold trimming. Computers and miscellaneous equipment hummed all around him, lights flashing around him. These lights flickered a few times and died. By now the sun had halfway set below the horizon, so the dieing of the lights plunged the area into semidarkness.

Dias felt uneasy. Extraterrestrial objects had already caused Expel great heartache, was this happening again? And plus the man had a vague resemblance to someone...but who?

With no prompting, the man's eyes suddenly flew open. The right eye was a blazing red, burning with intensity, while the other was an icy blue, bleak with hatred. The purplish robe started to ripple around the man's body, and was also imbued with an unholy light, flickering between ruby and sapphire. With no effort, the man leapt into the air and hovered several feet above the amassed army, taking in many of them with a revolting gaze. Great white wings emerged from behind the figure, giving him an angelic appearance.

During all of this, the army was slowly edging away from the impact point. But with his hateful glance many were frozen in their spot. Countless weapons were spontaneously unsheathed as they prepared for the worst.

The being's mouth opened, and his thunderous voice echoed across the wasteland. "Infidels! Here me, for I am the long-dead Dr. Lantis! You may have foiled my plot to Annihilate the Universe, but Indalacio was but a weakling compared to my ultimate creation, Gabriel. All shall suffer at my hand for this great injustice...and the Universe shall be Annihilated this time! Filia...I shall sacrifice these weaklings for you. Lend me your power!"

This decree was enough for the knights. They fled into the night. But Gabriel's radiance prevented them from finding shelter in the dark on the flat area. Spreading his hands with the palms out, Gabriel, or Dr. Lantis, began laughing maniacally. A crimson orb of light formed in his right hand, while an indigo light appeared in his left. Streaking from his hands, the lights followed luckless knights into the night. Upon touching them, the light instantly burned through whatever armor they wore, and ate into their flesh. Screams reverberated from the distant mountains as the warriors fell dead. "Ha ha ha! Puny humans, fear me!"

Dias grabbed Ashton's shoulder. "Come on! We have to get out of here now!" Ashton was not about to argue. The dragons agitatedly stirred on his back, encouraging him to get moving.

Weaving back and forth to evade the spheres of light, the two adventurers darted towards the frontier village the party reunited at on their earlier trip to El. Screams of anguish and the cackling of Gabriel followed them all the way there.


End file.
